To think people do not know what a healthy weight looks like.

[reducingfootprint]

I am a healthy weight for my height and i constantly get comments on my weight like "gosh youre tiny" or "i could just pick you up" and "what do you eat to be small, just eat a burger" from people i work with etc. Do people really not know what a healthy weight is anymore? I just think "im not tiny i am a healthy weight and yes i do eat fucking burgers"
Im glad shops are more inclusive and plus size models are more common but i still think commenting on someones size is wrong no matter the size.

Yes, I have lost over 2 stones since the surgery. My BMI is now technically in the healthy range but I would say I still need to lose another stone or so to really be my ideal weight.
And I have indeed had people say " oh that's enough now" which I know is rubbish as I still have lots of flabby bits! I've lost quite a bit during lockdown actually so it will be interesting to see how people react when I start seeing them again. I have one colleague who seems to think I have lost weight as some kind of personal insult to her so I am expecting negativity there. She will definitely tell me that I am too thin or that losing weight has made me look older, I would put money on it.

@JaniceWebster none of those people is particularly curvy.

I am quite tall (5'8) and reasonably slim at size 10 but people do seem to think I'm unnaturally thin. I carry my weight around my middle and have thin arms/legs/face so that might be deceptive.

I mentioned to some colleagues the other day that I had put on a bit of weight over lockdown and my work clothes were feeling tight and got a chorus of "you're tiny, there's nothing of you". That just isn't true though as the extra pounds put me at a borderline 10/12, still slim but not exactly a sparrow. It also makes me feel like I don't have the right to mention weight gain in case bigger people feel like I'm rubbing it in?

I think the uk is right behind the US when it comes to obesity. So i guess the perception of what is normal would def have been altered...

Altered and distorted

Yes I don't understand this - there was a thread where a previously obese/overweight person had lost weight and was now BMI 24, but wanted to lose a bit more. They got comments calling them anorexic and saying they needed a therapist for hating their body! Absolutely nuts.

@SchrodingersImmigrant I do get your point. But I believe there's a difference. The negativity with which you view your own body prior to weight loss isn't hidden. Often people criticise their own weight almost daily until they finally find a weight loss method that they can stick to. It's no secret to them.

With friends/acquaintances/colleagues, they don't mention your weight. You feel they accept you for who you are, which is probably even true. But then their opinions on your weight crop up after you lose the weight, which I've found to be a massive blow to my self esteem in the past as I naturally start thinking 'what else do you think of me that you never mention'.

I get this all the time too, especially lately because my OH is very seriously ill and I'm tired and stressed, so everytime anyone sees me they comment on how much weight I've lost. I haven't lost any weight, I'm 5'7" and weigh 10st.

People don't seem to understand that when you are a normal weight you look slim, not rounded and your ratio of bone to flesh is higher- you look more bony (in my sixties here). We have forgotten that being quite thin and bony IS normal and healthy!

I’ve gained about 15 pounds over the past couple of years, so I am now 90 pounds, but I’m 5 feet tall… When I was around 75 pounds, I still had my period, but I don’t have a very good immune system… I do eat healthy though, I’m just… Very slim. But people put so much focus on what I eat, how much I eat… And when I go out, people watch me… It makes me uncomfortable and so I don’t eat…

I used to be 10 stone and at 5'6 and a size 10, you'd think that would've been a "healthy" weight. It wasn't....the weight didnt 'suit' me. I developed diabetes at that size. Ridiculous! I wasn't even unhealthy, I was active and going to the gym 4/5 times a week. That was just over 2 years ago. I'm now skinny as shit, 7st7, size 8 and I look way better than I did with 'meat' on me. Yes I sometimes hate the way I look and miss having boobs and an ass but I have my diabetes under control via diet and I'm still active and healthy. Some people are meant to be smaller in frame regardless of how tall or small they are.

I think the uk is right behind the US when it comes to obesity. So i guess the perception of what is normal would def have been altered.

Whichever scale you look at, the UK is some way behind the USA as far as obesity is concerned.

obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/#oecd

Even the USA isn't top of the global rankings.

i dont think it is harder to be slim now, if you wanted to be slim, youll make changes to do so. eating more fruit and veg and walking/moving more isnt hard

I think that's quite offensive op. It might not be hard for you, but it is for a lot of people. You complain in your op about comments you receive, then say that...

Some people are meant to be smaller in frame regardless of how tall or small they are.
Yes, this is true. I'm 54, 5'8 and 9 stone (I'm a long distance runner), any more than a bmi of around19 ish and I look chunky because I have a small skeletal build (very thin wrists). No boobs or bum but that's the way it is!

i dont think it is harder to be slim now, if you wanted to be slim, youll make changes to do so. eating more fruit and veg and walking/moving more isnt hard

I find this a fascinating statement - if it isn’t harder to be slim now why do you think so many more people are fat? A generational decline in morals? Do you think if you transplanted all today’s fat people into 1900 they’d all find a way to remain fat?

I've always been overweight. The lowest I've been for a very long time was when my youngest was two years old. A combination of breastfeeding, walking everywhere at an adult pace with a buggy and not much time for snacking helped. I was at the very top end of the normal BMI range so should/could have afforded to lose a lot more and people were telling me I was too thin and I needed fattening up.

I see it on here a lot with children too. Parents can't see that their children are overweight when it's blatently obvious to everyone else.

Thin people now eg models, look too thin but watching old tv progs from the 70s, people looked fine, no rolls of fat but no stick thin limbs. Watching old black and white movies people seemed petite with tiny waists but I guess that was the norm for many. Less food less easily available.

I remember a campaign in the 70s/80s which told you you were overweight if “you could pinch more than an inch”

I actually think that’s still a good way to assess whether you are overweight but most people today wouldn’t dream of calling themselves overweight if they could “pinch more than an inch”

I experienced the opposite to a poster upthread. I'm slim at a size 8 but I've always had large breasts and my stomach has a very small bump. I went to see the doctor about something unrelated (was a size 6 then) and the doctor who was very fat, at least a size 18 and maybe 5ft 1 asked me what I was going to do about my "belly". I asked what she ment and she said I clearly had too much fat on my stomach as it wasn't flat. I never forgot that and actually had food issues for a few years after. I couldn't understand why she said it.

No one has a right to comment on anyone else's body. When they do, they look they idiots.

I agree op but you’ll get your arse handed to you on here for saying so.

I watched ‘Night of the Demon’ from 1957 the other night and it struck me how slim most people were compared to now - especially the crowd scenes.

I weigh the same now as i did when i was 16. 10 stone. Back then, I was considered fat, now I’m considered slim. Acceptable weight for me is 8st 3 lbs - 11st 2lbs.

@hamstersarse I remember girls at school grabbing my waist to do the pinch test and saying “oh! It’s not too bad is it!”

I also had an anaesthetist who commented on how ‘nice and slim’ I was compared to his usual patients.

@SuckingDownDarjeeling you are right. I agree. I can see your point.

@Sonichu I am not going to name you all of them because I don't know their names. I don't know any standard model's names either since the generation of Campbell, Shiffer and Crawford . There are many. They are in magazines too. But predominantly on social media. I once searched on insta plus size dress styles. Since then I have them in my suggestions. There are many. And they have hundreds of thousands followers+ each.

@CarlottaValdez if it isn’t harder to be slim now why do you think so many more people are fat? Because it is even easier to be fat. I wouldn't say it's decline in morals. It's decline in pride and rise of highly processed convenience food.

This is actually interesting discussion! And it's interesting to hear about the clothing size changes over time. Also did shops unified sizes now, or is there still considerable difference between size 12 in H&M and 12 in M&S?

Easier to be fat is the same thing as harder to be slim though. A decline in pride I would say was the same thing as a decline in morals. Although interestingly if you’re religiously minded a decline in pride (which is a mortal sin after all) is a good thing!